The Wellington Real Estate Market

Tenders May Be Changing The Wellington Sales Landscape.The old idea was once a salesperson got an offer of about what a residential property was “worth”, the vendor got worked over to be reasonable & take it. Especially with a general agency…where heaven forbid, another company might come along with a higher offer. And it still happens in some companies.
Leaders started tendering , and it has become widespread.
Looking today, on the Leaders website, and searching for 4 plus bedroom houses over $500k, and under$750k found the following for all of Wellington city: 4 under offer or for sale by price. 13 for sale by fixed tender.

Some buyers complain they “keep missing out” or that they “want the chance to negotiate”
Investors say everything is “too dear”. What do they mean, & what is happening to sales outcomes?

Wellington continues to be a sellers market. Houses are not an easily duplicated or substituted comodity. There is too much variety & not a big enough pool of stock.

A normal sale is where “a buyer, knowledgeable in the market, motivated, but not under duress to buy, purchases from a vendor, motivated, knowledgebale but not under duress to sell.”

But the tender enables the vendor to sell, in every case, to the most highly motivated buyer. So often a half dozen, or dozen, or as in Weka st or Rongatai road this year, two dozen “normally motivated” buyers miss out.

So what does it say that these buyers rely on purchasinig “non tender” listings? Probably that they get them for less than the vendor could have got. Why would owners choose to sell this way, other than ignorance or convenience? I often suggest to these buyers they go troll through private sales for bargains, poor negotiators and the uninformed vendor.

There is a concequence of selling for top prices. all the neighbours of course immediatly expect the same. This sets a line in the sand.

So is the Wellington market, particularly, being underpinned by a strong sellers market combined with a selling system evolved to favour the sellers ( as it should in my opinion?)

Note…the buyers, who most complain about tenders, & the impartial realocation of houses to they who want them most, seem to change their story dramatically when after buying, that they themselves decide to sell!